McGuinness Institute celebrates 20 years

On 25 November 2024, the McGuinness Institute celebrated turning 20. The event brought together patrons, past and current staff, as well as friends and family. It was a great chance to reminisce on the Institute’s beginnings, connect with those who have helped shape the Institute, and look ahead.

Speeches from Wendy and Mark McGuinness covered the history of the Institute, thanked patrons and staff for their support, and discussed plans for the future.

Wendy shared how the Institute started as a seed of an idea to solve a gap in New Zealand’s long-term research and analysis. She reflected on some of her favourite publications and events from the past 20 years and thanked the talented people who had worked on these projects.

Mark reiterated how the various workstreams of the Institute over the years have been held together by a strong focus on the long-term future of our country, with the workflow reflecting on ‘issues … facing New Zealand that people don’t want to deal with.’

Patrons Morgan Williams and Trevor Moeke kindly shared their experiences with the Institute over the years. Morgan talked about Wendy’s focus on the ‘why and how rather than just the what,’ explaining that she has used the Institute to ‘ask questions that most people didn’t want to ask.’

Trevor eloquently reflected that ‘sometimes you have to not let schooling interfere with your education,’ and shared stories of Institute workshops where ‘young people stepped up front and centre.’ He finished by looking to the future: ‘from the known and the unknown it will be revealed …’ with the Institute working to ‘gather leadership, insight and responsibility.’

Thank you to everyone who has helped the Institute over the past 20 years. We are looking forward to the next 20!

Check out some of our photos from the event

Check out some of our photos from the event

Check out some of our photos from the event

As we celebrate 20 years since the Institute began, we would like to highlight a selection of our most pivotal works and publications. Some of these have directed the Institute’s focus, some have resulted in policy changes and others have had significant public impacts. The world has changed significantly over the past 20 years, but the need for quality non-partisan research and policy analysis remains.